The Greatest of These
by Rosethorn
Summary: And the greatest of these is love. Margaret and Malcolm Dresden. Written for the 1sentence challenge on LJ; also a very condensed version of a much longer fic still in the works.


Fandom: Dresden Files

Pairing: Margaret Gwendolyn Lefay x Malcolm Dresden

Theme Set: Alpha

Rating: R.

Warnings: SPOILERS for everything, up to and including White Night, but _especially_ Blood Rites (pirates, ye be warned). Speculation involving Harry and why he was actually born. Insistence that, regardless of the reason Harry was born, Margaret Lefay loved Malcolm Dresden. Enjoy.

Notes: Follows my own personal canon for these two, currently being expanded into a fic titled Kyrie Eleison. I hope that, if you like this, you'll read Kyrie when I post it.

#01 – Comfort

The woman is bent over in an alley, breathing in tight hard sobs, her hand white-knuckled against the wall; he is beside her before he even knows it, moved by an impulse he doesn't understand and doesn't want to.

#02 – Kiss

He cups her face in his hands and kisses her, a fairy-tale kiss that seems to carry away all her lies, all her crimes, and make her new and pure.

#03 – Soft

Malcolm has known a gruff sort of fondness, and even an occasional deeper affection, but he has never known the kind of soft love Maggie gives, an unconditional adoration that swiftly becomes necessary as air.

#04 – Pain

Every time he looks at his son, at the pictures, hell, even at his goddamned handkerchief, it hurts a little more.

#05 – Potatoes

"You're not getting a very good bargain, you know," he says, after she's said yes; she snorts, and says, "Since I'm thirty-two, notoriously cranky, and can't cook besides baked potatoes, I'd say I've come out best of all."

#06 – Rain

It rained on their wedding day; in retrospect that should have been an omen, but on the day itself, they laughed and danced and came in wet and shivering to hold each other closer.

#07 – Chocolate

Maggie told him once that she married him because he made the best chocolate cake she'd ever had; he _thinks_ she was joking.

#08 – Happiness

"You know something?" she asks, suddenly, as she lies in the grass with her head on his stomach; "I was never really happy before I met you."

#09 – Telephone

The phone wakes him from a restless nightmare in an anonymous hotel room in the middle of nowhere, and for the rest of his life, he believes he is still dreaming.

#10 – Ears

"Smile, crumpet," Malcolm breathes in her ear, wrapping his arms around her and trying to cuddle away her bad mood; incredibly, he succeeds.

#11 – Name

Malcolm never calls her Maggie anymore—"crumpet," he'll say airily, "don't forget about dinner tonight!"; and later, in bed, "my heart" against her skin.

#12 – Sensual

It never fails to amaze her, what attracts Malcolm; oh, of course he likes all the usual things, the things she learned with Raith, but she's known him to watch her like a starving man when all she's doing is chewing her thumbnail.

#13 – Death

She did her best to save him, long after it became clear that she could not save herself.

#14 – Sex

The first time, there is a memory of pain and weakness, a drained feeling that makes her stiffen and tremble, but he will not let her get lost in that fear, calls her back to herself with soft words and softer touch, and the second time there is nothing but him.

#15 – Touch

He is such a tactile man, always has to be stroking her hair or caressing her palm, but she doesn't mind; it's nice to be loved.

#16 – Weakness

An ex-acquaintance from the bad old days thought threatening her Malcolm would make her submit; Maggie nudges the head with her toe, stares thoughtfully at the body (several feet away), and smiles.

#17 – Tears

He kisses her goodbye, then tilts her chin up and exclaims softly, worried by her expression, but Maggie can only shake her head and swallow back the tears; how can she explain that she will never see him again?

#18 – Speed

After living on the run for so long, it's near nirvana to slow down, to lie back in her new husband's arms and trade sleepy quips until she falls asleep, head tucked under his chin.

#19 – Wind

Long after he's gone, Maggie stands on the porch with her arms folded over her belly, the wind bringing tears to her eyes, telling herself that of course she'll see him again.

#20 – Freedom

All her life people have tried to control her, from her parents to Ebenezar to Raith, but it is Malcolm who keeps her, because it is Malcolm who is willing to let her go.

#21 – Life

She had a life before him, he knows that, and he cannot resent her for it; how can he, when all it got her was a host of bad memories and a son she cannot hold?

#22 - Jealousy

Maggie is so restless that he cannot keep from touching her, as if by these lightest of restraints he can make her choose to stay with him.

#23 – Hands

Maggie has such beautiful hands, long and soft and slender; Malcolm thinks he loved her hands before he even knew her name.

#24 – Taste

"Taste," Malcolm orders, and sticks the spoon in Maggie's mouth when she opens it to object.

#25 – Devotion

"I wouldn't kill for myself, not anymore, but for him, I'd kill you with a smile on my face and a song in my heart—hell, I might even whistle."

#26 – Forever

She promised him a forever she did not have, and dying, it's one of the only things she spares the time to regret.

#27 – Blood

Her own blood is on her hands, mingled with that of God knew how many others, but his will not be there, not ever, even if she has to break his heart to save him.

#28 - Sickness

Harry is a gift and a joy, one Malcolm would never risk losing, but sometimes, when it's dark and lonely, when his son's been whining and he's been missing Maggie more than usual, a bleak, sick part of him wonders if he can trade back.

#29 – Melody

Maggie sings to herself, or perhaps to her swelling belly, sweeping her way around the kitchen like a princess in a fairy tale; the only thing missing, Malcolm thinks wryly from where he's leaning on the doorframe, is a sense of pitch.

#30 – Star

Malcolm is fascinated by her pentacle, and she is fascinated by his fascination; just watching him trace the star in the center can make her want that touch, that attention on her.

#31 – Home

He cannot explain the way he loves her, except to say that she makes every place feel like home.

#32 – Confusion

It's so strange, the way she'll come so close and then skitter away again; almost as if she's afraid of him, but Malcolm hopes he's not a scary man, and he can hardly imagine what else someone like her would have to fear.

#33 – Fear

Maggie isn't afraid of dying, except in the context of the life inside her, and what she'll lose by it; rather, what scares her into gasping shivers is the threat of losing him.

#34 - Lightning/Thunder

As much as he loved her, as much as he _loves_ her, Malcolm never dreamed that someone as mundane as he saw himself could attract someone as quicksilver fey as Maggie; the realization that he can and did is rather like being struck by lightning.

#35 – Bonds

She is buried wearing her wedding ring; he touches his surriptitiously at the funeral, and knows that he will wear it forever.

#36 – Market

Maggie is so wise in some ways, and so curiously naïve in others; she's never, for example, been to a flea market, and Malcolm enjoys her mild amazement far more than he probably should.

#37 – Technology

The DJ at one club in Charleston makes the mistake of insulting Malcolm in a stage whisper; Maggie "accidentally" hexes his turntable, then commiserates with him, her eyes wide and innocent, while Malcolm hides his face in the menu and chokes on laughter.

#38 – Gift

Maggie never believed in love, not really, until Malcolm gave her all of his true and honest heart without a second thought.

#39 – Smile

Malcolm smiles a lot more than people think he does; sometimes he'll say something incredibly outrageous with a straight face, and only Maggie can see the laughter in his eyes.

#40 – Innocence

"I'm not innocent," she says, heart trembling; "I know," he replies, and will not let her go.

#41 – Completion

It's hard to say when she was happiest; the day he put a ring on her finger, or even earlier, when she knew for certain that he loved her.

#42 – Clouds

The first cloud in her fairytale ending comes when she realizes just what it is she carries; from Raith, she would have expected this, but she'd never imagined Malcolm could sire a weapon.

#43 – Sky

Malcolm's eyes are a deep, clear blue, the color of the sky shading into twilight, and Maggie has memorized them in the brief half-seconds she dares to look.

#44 – Heaven

After Malcolm, after three months of love and warmth and happily-ever-after, Maggie finally believes in heaven.

#45 – Hell

After Maggie, after three months of diapers and no sleep and an aching emptiness big as the sky, Malcolm finally believes in hell.

#46 – Sun

Maggie is magic, the sun and stars, whimsical and clairvoyant, everything he's ever wanted and everything important to him in one smile, one look, one touch.

#47 – Moon

He is understated, calm and quiet, certainly not flamboyant or possessive, but Maggie has never met a better man; she touches the swell of her belly, prominent in the moonlight, and hopes their child will have his father's heart

#48 – Waves

When she's about six months pregnant, they go to Virginia, see his hometown, visit Washington DC and the Lincoln Memorial; Maggie curls into her husband, watches the Potomac's surface ruffle peacefully in the wind, and barely even notices when someone takes a picture.

#49 - Hair

Maggie isn't sure why she still bothers to braid her hair at night, because Malcolm always undoes it as soon as she falls asleep.

#50 – Supernova

The problem with stars (Malcolm traces her face in a picture, years old) is that sooner or later they always go nova; but then, the light can last for years after the star has gone (he kisses his sleeping son's head, and knows that she still loves him).


End file.
